6,4,6,6! Rinku Singh smashes unbeaten 48-ball 78 in run chase at no.5 to make himself unignorable for selectors ahead of T20 Asia Cup 2025

Kashi Rudras captain Shubham Chaubey won the toss and opted to bat first. Kartik Tyagi struck twice with the new ball and dismissed opener Abhishek Goswami and Uvais Ahmad. Bhavy Goyal struggled as well and was dismissed by Yash Garg. New batter Yashovardhan Singh struggled to find boundaries whereas Karan Sharma played the anchor role on the other end. Yashovardhan was knocked over by Vishal Chaudhary for a 22-ball 14.

Skipper Chaubey contributed with a 19-ball 29 cameo to up the scoring rate whereas Karan reached his fifty from 40 deliveries. Tyagi returned to dismiss Chaubey in the 18th over. In the penultimate over, Vijay Kumar dismissed Karan and Rishabh Rajput off consecutive deliveries. Karan scored 61 runs from 50 balls, including five fours and a six. In the final over, Shiva Singh hit a six before getting out to Tyagi on the last delivery. Kashi Rudras managed to post 135/8 on the board.

ALSO READ: 'He was the one who started it, I won't say how or...': Nitish Rana breaks silence on ugly spat with Digvesh Rathi in DPL 2025 clash

Early wickets fall in Mavericks’ run chase

In the run chase, Meerut Mavericks' top-order faltered. First, Swastik Chikhara got out to Sunil Kumar for a four-ball duck. Atal Bihari Rai conceded 11 runs in his first over but got the wicket of Akash Dubey. In the sixth over, Rituraj Sharma lost his wicket to Rajput for a 19-ball 15. Meerut Mavericks were 31/3 after powerplay overs.

ALSO READ: Dinesh Karthik's SA20 teammate slams exceptional 93-ball 158, leads South Africa A to 7-wicket win over New Zealand A amidst batting collapse

Rinku starts slow but finishes with a bang

Rinku took his time in the middle overs while Madhav Kaushik scored boundaries from the other end. Rinku was batting on 17 off 28 balls till the 12th over. In the 13th over, he hit the first six of his innings. Then, he went berserk. In the 15th over, Rinku hit Shiva for two sixes and a four. He reached his half-century from 42 deliveries. In the 16th over, Rinku hit Rai for a four and three sixes to finish the run chase. Rinku's unbeaten 48-ball 78 featured six fours and as many sixes. On the other end, Kaushik remained not out for a 20-ball 34 in the 113-run partnership for the fourth wicket.

Rinku finds form leading up to Asia Cup

Ahead of the T20 Asia Cup 2025, Rinku has been in good form. He has scored 295 runs from seven innings in the ongoing Uttar Pradesh Premier League 2025, featuring one century and two fifties. His strike rate of 170.52 is the highest among top 10 run-scorers in the league's 2025 edition.